Another headache for Clive Palmer as environment trial ordered

Clive Palmer’s embattled Queensland Nickel has been ­ordered to stand trial over alleged environmental breaches.

Clive Palmer’s embattled Queensland Nickel has been ­ordered to stand trial over alleged environmental breaches at its nickel refinery near Townsville.

The company was charged with six offences late last year after contaminated water allegedly leaked from a storage dam at the Yabalu refinery during a cyclone.

Two charges of wilfully ­contravening a condition of environmental authority were committed to trial after a three-day committal hearing, which finished yesterday.

One of the original charges has been dropped while three others will be mentioned in Townsville Magistrates Court in June.

A spokesman for Mr Palmer yesterday said he was not commenting about the outcome of the committal hearing.

Queensland’s Department of Environment and Heritage Protection this week told the court the company allegedly poorly managed a tailings dam containing wastewater for months, recklessly taking risks ahead of the 2013-14 wet season.

The court was told that no environmental damage was caused, but the spill into an effluent pond in April 2014 was “specifically prohibited” by the government-issued environmental authority and should never have occurred.

The wastewater is kept in a tailings dam, which must have enough capacity to cope with historically heavy wet seasons.

In February last year, Tropical Cyclone Dylan hit Townsville, bringing 200mm of rain and helping to fill up the tailings dam. The company reported the problem to the department.

In April, Tropical Cyclone Ita hit. The court was told the tailings dam overflowed into the effluent pond, releasing up to 21 megalitres each day.

Mr Palmer’s former accountant Bill Schoch yesterday withdrew his Federal Court bid to overturn a bankruptcy notice filed against him by the MP and businessman.